During early summer 2010, two Jehovah’s Witnesses appeared at our front door. The older of the two recounted that his father had served in the military during World War II. His father was Catholic. He asked the chaplain why Catholics were killing Catholics. The chaplain responded that he was not to worry since God was on our (Allied) side. The soldier learned that the "enemy" soldiers wore a buckle which read in German, "God is with us." The man’s father forthwith became an atheist.

We all know of the carnage in Northern Ireland – Christians killing Christians. Then there is the war in the middle East where Jews, Christians and Muslims kill one another on a daily basis. All three traditions lay claim to the Ten Commandments, but, institutionally, all struggle to grasp what God might have had in mind with the seemingly clear "Thou Shalt not Kill" statement. In the United States, many Christians believe that the commandment pertains only to the unborn (except as collateral damage in war). The commandment does not apply to capital punishment or the accepted consequences of war.

Jesus’ statement that "The poor you will have always with you," has practically speaking, become the rationale for gross neglect of the needy by the government.

So this is the picture in a nation that many claim to be "Christian." Church-going is applauded but pastors need to be careful not to talk about things like poverty, war, greed, gays, etc.

Probably none of us condone the destructive and uncompassionate behavior of institutional Christianity. Probably all of us struggle for change, embracing the non-violence of Jesus in acts of compassion toward the poor, those ravaged by war, women systemically devalued, and those shunned because of sexual orientation, those excluded because of race or religion.

Institutional Religion Is Not Working.... Why?

It is my earnest conviction that institutional religion–no matter which tradition–has been such an historically colossal failure, because it has lost touch with its spiritual roots. Institutional religion–no matter which tradition–has fostered the illusion of collective ego and been the root of separation. The genuine practice of each religion, grounded in its particular spiritual roots, fosters honor, respect, and appreciation of other traditions as equally valid paths to the Holy One.

Spiritual Roots

What, then, are the spiritual roots lost by institutional Judaism, Christianity, and Islam?

Judaism: from "yahudim" – Those who praise or turn around the Holy Presence, their "hu-ness. Hence, connected with and attuned to the Holy One beyond form.

Christianity: Those in sync with Jesus and through Jesus connected with and attuned to the Holy One beyond form.

Islam: The root letters are S L M meaning "to be in peace, to be secure, to be integral, whole. : Muslim: One who is completely surrendered to the law, will, and guidance of the Holy One, beyond form.

These same root letters, S L M are contained in the words for peace in Hebrew, Shalom, Aramaic,Shlama, Arabic,salaam. They mean: peace, harmony, safety, health. They have been words of greeting in the Middle East for thousands of years.

So in light of these common spiritual roots, it is not reasonable or possible to kill one another and ravish the planet. Killing and ravishing in God’s Name is fundamentally blasphemous.

Religious Attendance Alone Is Not Working

So the key is not attendance at temple, church, or mosque. Not that such attendance is necessarily wrong. However, such attendance can be and often is a communal celebration of emotional comfort and collective ego. A look at history confirms this. I am not saying that people of faith–regardless of tradition–have not produced wonderful, constructive, compassionate accomplishments. They have.

What Is Needed?

The point is that such accomplishments arise from spiritual roots, not from institutions. Institutions may have good documents but good documents do not cut it. Jesus said, "By their fruits you will know them," not by their documents. Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." That happens one person at a time. If the prophets came to call us to anything, they came to call us to consciousness. We become conscious, not though doctrines and dogma, or attendance at religious services, but through committed, daily, personal spiritual practice. This is the key to transforming behavior. And behavior is changed through ego awareness and ego diminishment, because unaddressed ego is the greatest obstacle or challenge to spiritual growth. When the ego is successfully and consistently addressed, what follows is behavior transformation manifested in acts of acceptance, love, forgiveness and compassion.

I was a Jesuit for 37 years, so Ignatian Contemplation as a spiritual practice is not new. It profoundly affected my commitment, devotion, and attachment to Jesus. It changed my life. But it did not substantially help me to address my ego.

Nor did the twice daily examen of conscience/consciousness. It did help some people I have known.The Key

This, addressing ego, is the principal challenge to authentic spiritual growth. I say "addressing" ego, not killing it, not denying it, not blaming it, not scapegoating it, not attacking it, not destroying it, not even confronting it...but addressing it, diminishing it, being aware if it. The question is: "Who is running the show?" In her book, The Meaning of Mary Magdalene, Cynthia Bourgeault speaks to this point: "Gnosis is about stages; it is integral knowledge brought about by the slow unification of one's being. In the wonderful words of contemporary Jewish teacher Rami Shapiro, it is 'not only an altered state of mind, (moving from narrow to spacious) but an altered trait of behavior, moving from selfishness, fear, and narcissism to justice, compassion, and humility. 'Jesus taught gnosis and was a master of gnosis. But he did not change anyone's states, either by secret rituals or esoteric information. Rather he set his disciples upon the only known path to integral transformation: the slow and persistent overcoming of the ego through a lifelong practice of surrender and nonattachment. His gnosis is gradual, conscious, and sober." P. 30

Bourgeault continues: The first requirement of conscious love is, of course, that it has to be conscious--or in other words, anchored in a qualtiy of our presence deeper than simply egoic selfhood. Nowadays we would identify this quality of consciousness as unitive, or non-dual awareness. Jesus's own term for this state...is singleness. P118

And, "...As long as the egoic self is the only self you know, you will cling to it like a life raft... Without the development of a strong inner observer 'all relationships are deeply flawed.'* (We need to keep the skills) of inner witnessing closely honed. Commitment to a daily practice of meditation or some parallel spiritual discipline is the usual means by which this is done and is hence the practical foundation for the path of conscious love." P. 119 (*Tolle: The Power of Now, P. 125

The ego challenge finally began to awaken in me when, after several years of daily centering prayer practice, I was introduced to Buddhist breathing meditation through books by Pema Chodron, Ezra Bayda, and Thich Nhat Hanh. It all began when I attended a talk on breathing practice. During the talk we actually practiced breathing intentionally. After that talk, I realized that I needed to do that practice. So I started by doing the breathing practice for five minutes a day for four weeks. Then I did it for ten minutes for four weeks. I continued to increase the amount of time until I reached 30 minutes. It was then that it was clear that twenty minutes would be the ongoing amount of time devoted to the breathing practice. Eventually the amount of time went back up to 30 minutes and currently, Carolyn and I spend thirty minutes in the morning and on most days, another 30 minutes in the evening.

A critical series of insights came for me (see below, examples of ego) with

Eckhart Tolle's book, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose. Tolle’s book is the best thing I have ever read about ego. It is clear, concise, and thorough. It helped me to realize that my own ego issue is everywherein my life. Addressing the ego successfully is the key to consciousness and hence to compassionate living in the midst of a mostly unconscious socio-religious culture.

Following are some examples of ego needing to be addressed to avoid creating suffering for ourselves and other people:

1. A conversation or argument in which one or neither party is listening to the other but formulating what is going to be said next. (it’s about winning)

2. Road rage is about ego, about winning, paying back.

3. Texting and talking on the phone while driving. It is potentially violent, and "all about me." It is usually about avoidance, denial, "my importance" and "my agenda."

4. Thoughts about the past, regret, embarrassment, guilt. "All about me." It drags us out of the present.

5. Someone suggests something that I did not plan for and I react with irritation.

"My Divine Agenda" has been interfered with. 6. I get angry because I broke something because I was not paying attention and have to clean it up.

7. Worry, fear, anxiety about something in the future. Again, it is "all about me" dragging us out of the present.

{Another book that can be very helpful in coming to greater clarity about the ego is Take Me To Truth: Undoing the Ego by Nouk Sanchez and Tomas Vieira. [This book relies a lot on "The Course In Miracles" The book by Sanchez and Vieira is helpful but it is important to understand that whenever the reader is getting the impression that the material world does not really exist, it is most helpful to pay no attention. The book focuses on the games our minds play with us about our own importance and the illusion that we personally are the center of the universe....which, of course, we are not. The book can help toward our realization the we are one.]

It is this ego-addressing daily spiritual practice that can lead us to taking our ideas and our religious doctrines less seriously, to see doctrines as possibly dangerous examples of collective ego.As Tolle observes: "Many ‘religious’ people equate truth with thought, and are completely identified with thought (their mind). ...The West (is) the most mind dominated of all cultures. ...Those unable to look beyond form become even more deeply entrenched in their beliefs, that is to say, in their mind." [ Pages 17-19, passim]

Arrogant and self-righteous ego (I’m right, you’re wrong! ...and I’ll get rid of you!) has spawned torture, murder, excommunications, interdicts. The fruit?–fear and deeper rigidity, suppressing authentic spiritual freedom–all, of course, in the name of God. The same results occur whether the fundamentalism is scriptural or doctrinal/dogmatic. Committed, personal, daily ego-addressing spiritual practice, on the other hand, leads to a lighter grasp, a letting go of rigidity, so trust, growth, and acceptance take root and flourish. This is genuine spiritual freedom.

Also, seriously addressing our egos has a good chance of waking us up to the realization that our own passionate efforts at institutional reform may well be the equivalent of rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic. In fact, being the change we want to see in religious institutions will probably get us exculded by the institution we would like to change.

So for folks who are intent on psychological and spiritual growth, committed, daily, personal, ego-addressing spiritual practice is essential. It is all a response to the prophets’ call to consciousness, to be awake.

What follows below is what I have found most helpful.

1. Focus on the breath. Consciously bring attention to the breath. Follow the breath. Do not try to change the breathing pattern, just notice it. Is it fast or slow? ...even or uneven? ...deep or shallow? Just keep following the breath.

After you have become proficient in this practice of following the breath, notice whether the in-breath is equal to the out-breath. Notice whether the pause after the out-breath is longer than the pause after the in-breath. If this is the case, gently even the breaths so that the pause after the out-breath is the same as the pause after the in-breath. Keep an even rhythm of in and out with the very briefest pause after in-breath and out-breath. [See The Miracle of the Breath, by Andy Caponigro, PP 31-33, 104-105]

2. When thoughts occur, and they will, one is no longer following the breath. One is thinking. On becoming aware of thoughts, simply return to following the breath. In following the breath, one will notice that changes will take place. Perhaps one will notice that one is breathing more slowly and deeply.

3. When thoughts are interlaced with emotions such as fear, anxiety, anger, it is essential to separate the thoughts from the feelings because as long as the thoughts and feelings are interlaced, they will never go away. The topic of the thoughts may change but the same feelings will remain locked. Example: anxiety attacks. The fact is, the thoughts are merely thoughts. They may be concerned with the past or they may be concerned with the future. But, unfortunately we believe our thoughts. A technique suggested by Ezra Bayda in Being Zen: Bringing Meditation to Life, [P. 29] is to make what is happening conscious by saying to yourself, "Having a believed thought that...." We treat thoughts as though they were reality, but they are merely thoughts. Eventually, with persistence, we can own the thoughts for what they are, merely thoughts, thus separating them from the feelings. Then we can bring our attention to the feelings, notice where we are carrying them in our body and then bring the breath to that part of our body, leaning into the feeling with the breath. Feel the feeling and breathe into it. Do not run away from the feeling. Stay with it. This will eventually resolve the feeling of distress. When this happens, simply return to following the breath.

The Effects Of This Practice

1 - You cannot think while you are meditating on, following your breath.

2 - Ego is silenced, therefore diminished.

3 - One is by the very nature of this practice, being non-violent. Violence is born of thoughts, of identifying with thoughts, born of ego. (Jesus refers to this: Mark 7:20 "Wicked designs come from the deep recesses.... All these evils come from within...")

4 - One is present in the moment – which is the very best place from which to address whatever is happening in the moment. One is able to act most appropriately if action is called for.

There are many spiritual practices that can be fruitful to varying degrees: reciting a mantra, chanting, centering prayer, yoga, tai chi, chi kung, drumming, Dances of Universal Peace, walking meditation, sitting meditation. These practices quiet the mind, hushing the ego. I use some of these practices. However, what I look for in a daily spiritual practice is whether the practice addresses ego, as can happen with the practice of meditation on the breath as explained above. One might try it with the other practices as well.

From among the various practices mentioned above, all of which hush ego noise, there are two in particular that I would describe as "making onself available to God." They are centering prayer and following the breath. Making onself available to God is exactly what Jesus was suggesting in the second line of the prayer he gave his followers. It is usually translated from Greek as "hallowed be thy name." One possible rendering from Aramaic, the language Jesus actually spoke, would be "Help us clear a space inside of busy forgetfulness so that your name, your shining vibration might find a home, providing a center around which our life turns." [Prayers of the Cosmos: Meditations on the Aramaic Words of Jesus by Neil Douglas-Klotz, pp. 16-17, and The Hiddne Gospel: Decoding the Spiritual Message of the Aramaic Jesus by Neil Douglas-Klotz, p53.](Also see Ya-hu-dim above under spiritual roots of Judaism)

How To Begin Such A Practice

If one has not been doing such a practice, how does one begin practicing without setting oneself up for discouragement and failure?

1 - Decide on an amount of time which is doable for you. If one minute is really doable, then do one minute. Do it once a day. If a longer period is realistically doable, then do that amount of time once a day.

2 - Do the practice for four weeks, then increase the amount of time once a day.

3 - Do the practice at the increased amount of time for four weeks. Then increase the amount of time again– keeping it doable.

4 - If you get to 30 minutes, decide whether you will continue at 30 or some lesser or greater amount.

5 - Do the practice every day at least once. Somewhere along the line, you may begin practicing also a second time, beginning with a short amount of time. It is important, however to practice every day.

This breathing meditation or other practice which involves addressing the ego may require one to lessen or even omit some other devotional practice. But the criterion is addressing the ego. If ego is not addressed, the practice, however dear and familiar, needs at least to be lessened in favor of addressing ego. If you do not have time to do a practice which affords the opportunity of addressing ego, you are too busy. We are all so very vulnerable to self delusion that it is critical for us to be attentive to the tricks of ego. We can be so head-long into our agenda that we become dangerous to ourselves and others.

Tolle recounts that someone showed him the prospectus of a large spiritual organization. The person asked Tolle if he would recommend one or two courses. Tolle said he did not know. "They all look so interesting. But I do know this. Be aware of your breathing as often as you are able, whenever you remember. Do that for one year, and it will be more powerfully transformative than attending all of these courses. And it’s free." [P 244]

So you may simply choose to start with what Tolle suggests. This would be very significant in itself. Yet, I would highly recommend having a longer amount of time each day as well. A longer time each day will, in my opinion, quicken the awaken-ing process. You may choose to select five short periods each day scattered throughout the day as Muslims do with their prayer times and as Christian monks and nuns do with the prayer of the hours. You may choose to draw and release three focused breaths several times each day. But start somewhere! Be intentional about it. The stakes are too high for us personally and for the planet and the species. Let us also be very aware of the insidious illusion that spiritual practice is not necessary for everyone, only certain people like monks and nuns, while the rest of us need to be practical serving others and making a living so that there is no time left.

It may be useful to point out from the perspective of Jesus’ language, Aramaic, the first three Beatitudes are about breathing. The first Beatitude might be translated "Ripe and attuned to the Source are those who find their home in the breath, theirs is the I Can of the universe." (Neil Douglas-Klotz). The second Beatitude might be rendered "Aligned with the One are those whose life is in emotional turmoil, they will find the arms of love embrace then from inside." (NDK)The third Beatitude could mean "Resisting corruption, possessing integrity are those who have softened what is rigid within, they shall receive physical vigor from nature."(NDK) So when we breathe deeply and intentionally, stuff comes up, and there is plenty around all of us every day, violence everywhere. When we mourn we soften and are open to receive the energy that is all around us.

Having been raised Catholic, I appreciate that guilt is a common (though useless) experience. Hence, in doing a practice which provides the opportunity of addressing ego, it is important to be non-judgmental toward yourself about failing to be perfect, being mediocre, or even abysmal at the practice. Just notice what is happening and go back to the practice.

A Reflection About Thinking

There is thinking and there is thinking. The question is: "Does the thinking you are engaging in go anywhere?" "Is it really fruitful, or is it an ego exercise in futility?" Sometimes thinking is useful. Other times it is not useful. So asking such questions about the value of thinking is not anti-intellectual. Thich Nhat Hanh has a book titled: Transformation at the Base. It is highly intellectual, he is clearly a great scholar, but the practice of breathing and smiling which he so highly recommends does not engage the mind. [Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life, by Thich Nhat Hanh, P. 9] It engages our full body awareness which is something desperately needed in our culture, so profoundly addicted to denial and avoidance of life as it is.

Support In The Practice

We all need support for our practice. Couples are fortunate because they enjoy in-house possibility. I encourage couples to choose some doable amount of time to practice together. You will support each other’s energy. Do it every day together. Or gather a small group to practice once a week in addition to your own daily practice. Again for a doable amount of time. Buddhists call this a sangha or community of practitioners.

Jesus said in Matthew 18:20: Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in th midst of them." The root "shem" in Jesus’ language, Aramaic, can mean light, word, sound vibration, reputation, name, experience and atmosphere. So "the use of Jesus’ name in Christian prayers conveys to the devotee a vibrational sense of Jesus’ being." [The Hidden Gospel - Neil Douglas-Klotz, p. 69-71.] So gathering together does make an energetic difference. There is also a resonance of this in The Global Brain. It recounts that when two groups, separated by hundreds of miles meditated at the same time, a larger group of meditators affected the brain waves of the smaller group. [Pp. 189-190]

Conclusion

The energy and empowerment for a fruitful life, comes from within. So let us embrace this lynch-pin of rich, fruitful, effective living, the lynch-pin of personal, daily, ego-addressing spiritual practice.

So the bottom line challenge is consciousness, unitive consciousness, awareness that we are all in fact one. Cynthia Bourgeault addresses this clearly and compellingly in her book, The Wisdom Jesus:Transforming Heart and MInd--a New Perspective on Christ and His Message.

At Hope House there is a poster which reads in eighteen languages: "There will be peace on earth when there is peace among the world religions." Might there be peace among the world religions if spiritual leaders of those traditions, themselves committed to daily ego addressing spiritual practice and tirelessly taught that practice to their people? That may seem like attempting too much too fast, but there are, of course religious leaders who are already doing such a practice. There are also people who are not leaders doing such a practice. So there is already a beginning. Religious leaders who are not currently doing such a practice would themselves be blessed, were they to begin practicing. Experiencing the fruits of practice, they will want to suggest to their people that there is more than religious attendance. They might then encourage their people to go deeper and offer opportunities for their people to learn to go deeper through personal, ego-addressing, personal, daily spiritual practice. So there is reason for hope that this transforming work will continue to dance between leaders and non leaders and grow to an ever greater number of people so that there will indeed be peace on earth amongst all people, religious and not religious.